Demi Frere
by Thorn In Your Side
Summary: What Sesshoumaru wants to say, Sesshoumaru will say.


**Demi Frere**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.**

**A/N: Though I didn't actively work on this since conceiving the title, it seemed like my brain was constantly dwelling on it...I was sitting around reading "The World God Only Knows" thinking that if Kusunoki gets any prettier I'll have a nosebleed and then the fully finished form of this fic popped into my thoughts. It was a _magical _feeling. **

**I had Sesshoumaru refer to himself in the third person and the plural like feudal nobility did. Like that cute Lurechiyo from the one Bleach filler arc does.  
**

**Aniki-ue etc. all mean the same thing; namely, big brother.  
**

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

Does a half-demon half-brother have only half-responsibility?

Denying your true self, reckless to the core, plunging into meaningless battles instead of staying by this Sesshoumaru's side like a loyal brother should...you are arrogant and impudent, believing you can change your destiny. Oh, but have we erred? Do you find your aniki-ue's thinking archaic, outdated, stifling?

Does this Sesshoumaru not live up to your expectations?

Neither do you to ours!

We know no other way of thinking, little brother, so bear with it won't you? As this Sesshoumaru has borne the shame of being your blood relative, you will bear with us. You will hear from us.

The last fifty years have been the worst. Every runty wisp of a demon approaching to sully our claws with its blood would crow obscenities, bringing news of your tryst with some tree as if this Sesshoumaru wasn't already aware of our brother's enormous inability. Pinned to a **_tree_**, Inuyasha? By a human you deemed worthy of casting our father's blood aside for, no less. We're sure she appreciated your sacrifice as she shot an arrow into your chaotic heart.

You fool, did you know what you were prepared to sacrifice?

Forget our venerable father, that blood you wanted to jettison was your tie to **_us._**

Is this Sesshoumaru someone you cannot respect, Inuyasha?

Your curse is not ours. We do not know how it is for a half-demon in the human world. perhaps in our mind your actions are justified; perhaps your upbringing in the brief years your mother brought you up condones such behavior. This Sesshoumaru has spared no effort to understand but each time our breath is taken away by the irrefutable fact that you are not content to be who you are. As if fate doesn't bind you as firmly as it does the rest of us, you careen about, comically trying to alter your circumstances.

You are **_so _**naive.

Did you choose to fall in love with the priestess guarding the shikon jewel? Was it part of your plan to have Father's resting place residing in your eye? You control nothing. Are you so weak that you cannot accept this? Must you **_thrash_** so?

It's a futile struggle.

The jewel is only a jewel, Inuyasha. Like any other stone it has value because enchanted men say it has, it has power because it is given power by belief. Shall your big brother reveal the truth of the matter? It will not get you what you want.

Not that this Sesshoumaru understands why you want it.

We have heard that amongst humans you were scorned and spurned, likely feared. Why then did you not leave them behind once that woman died? Apart from your mother what debt did you owe the humans that you forced your undesired company on them for decades instead of turning to your true family?

Some in the realm expected us to look after you, with our revered father in his grave and you so very young. But Father never asked us to pledge ourselves to any such charge. Protecting you? We imagine it to be a thankless job. What kind of thanks would you have shown us, Inuyasha? What kind of thanks would you repay us with? What it have been like, we wonder, to watch you grow?

...In any case, we doubt our own honored mother would have permitted it. A half-demon in the household.

Idle fantasy.

This Sesshoumaru is not idle, Inuyasha. As you slept, we have sought Father's legacy. We have made a name for ourselves enough to cover your embarrassing mistakes. Not that you would choose to invoke it. Far too proud. Arrogant, to the point of daring to interfere with our battles. Are you joking? Protect us? How would you feel if after drawing your blade that young fox you're traveling with leaped in to protect **_you_**?

We are not asking for your loyalty, nor your love, nor even your sympathy. Our expectations are not quite so large. Just **_think _**before you decide. We know what we want and we do everything in our power to get it. We are not swayed from our choices easily. You chased the shikon jewel seeking to become a demon, spitting on the memory of your dead mother. You know how this Sesshoumaru feels about her but she did give **_birth _**to you. Is that how a half-demon pays his respect? And you were so fickle about it, changing your mind to wanting to turn human for the sake of one woman. A woman, who...

We've been through this.

This Sesshoumaru does not know, Inuyasha. We were blood brothers till you tried to cut our bonds. We do not know how to forgive you. Having rejected it so thoroughly, the position of our _otouto _is not once you deserve.

And yet?

It is uniquely yours.

A lifetime of disrespect, we regret to acknowledge, is not enough to lift the shackles of duty. One of these days we intend to find the will to sit by your side and lay an arm on your shoulder. Unlike you, this Sesshoumaru does not sway from his goal. One thing alone is lft to dwell on.

Little brother.

Will we kill each other before that day, or will you wait for me?

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

**Demi frere is French for half-brother. Well, technically stepbrother. And despite not wanting to make this a rebuttal to Inuyasha's piece, it came out that way regardless.  
**


End file.
